The Naxos label's series of Haydn symphonies has been divided among several groups; the Sinfonia Finlandia under Patrick Gallois has previously been heard on another set of early symphonies (Nos. 1 through 5). Though they have competition in the present set from the Hanover Band, on historical instruments (the Sinfonia Finlandia is a compact modern-instrument group), the group offers crisp, full-blooded interpretations that show the connections between these works of the early 1760s and Haydn the master symphonist as he ...
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The Naxos label's series of Haydn symphonies has been divided among several groups; the Sinfonia Finlandia under Patrick Gallois has previously been heard on another set of early symphonies (Nos. 1 through 5). Though they have competition in the present set from the Hanover Band, on historical instruments (the Sinfonia Finlandia is a compact modern-instrument group), the group offers crisp, full-blooded interpretations that show the connections between these works of the early 1760s and Haydn the master symphonist as he developed over the rest of his oeuvre of 107. In these four symphonies, among the least-often heard of the whole cycle, Haydn had not yet standardized the four-movement symphonic cycle; three of the works are in three movements, and the only four-movement work, the Symphony No. 11 in E flat major, is in the old slow-fast-slow-fast church sonata configuration. Even here, however, Haydn is expert at dismantling the listener's expectations; the opening slow movment, which in the classic...
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